I've been a gamer my whole life, but I wasn't introduced into multiplayer gaming till I had a revolutionary time slaughtering bots with 4 buddies on Golden Eye, and Perfect Dark. Back then I was in middle school and we were playing on my buddies 13" TV that we each had 1/4th of. Now televisions are giant, so huge in fact that we can each have our own slice of the television that's as big or bigger then the 13" TV we used to split 4 ways.

But what's happening? Game developers are no longer including the option for 4 player split screen. Of all the games on my 360 to come out within the last year none support 4 player split. Halo 3 does because that's how halo always was, halo wouldn't have been nearly as successful without the original having 4 player split screen, and they had to continue that tradition. Think back to 360 launch games though. COD2, Farcry:IP, Perfect Dark: Zero, they all had 4 player split screen. Now it seems we only get 2 players on screen, sometimes not even that (COD4). Gears 1/2 , Resistance 2 , Call of Duty: World at War, even Left 4 Dead (if a game ever needed 4 player split screen that's the one) all only 2 player split screen.

So why do I own 4 controllers then? Is it just for castle crashers? (not that game's not great and all) The amount of fun to be had by 8 people having a Xbox party is far greater then that to be had by 4. only 4 players worked for n64 games because of bots, and most new games don't include those either (I realize gears 2 does) So why is it that games stopped supporting 4 player split screen? Is it because the consoles can't support 4 players at once from a technical stand point? Are the graphics too system intensive? If that's all then turn off settings for 4-players and let us resume our 8 person parties. Or is there some other motivation? Is it to sell more consoles and games or Xbox live subscriptions? While it might promote the sale of more games I doubt it promotes the sale of many consoles. I don't know about you but I don't have 4 televisions in my house for an 8 person party. And then I have to find 3 friends with 360's that can come over for a party, surprisingly enough that's not as easy as it sounds.

What do you guys think? Is there some $$ motivation or is there really a reason it can't be done. Or am I overreacting and should just play online more often. Or do I have a point in thinking that online play isn't really a substitute for 8 friends in a room playing against each other.

About scsitransferOne of us since 4:11 AM on 07.30.2008

I'm a 20 Year old gamer. I started gaming on the PC back in 94-96ish and before that I just watched my brother. My first gaming love was Jill of the Jungle, a great platformer title from the now Über popular Epic (Megagames) thanks to Gears of war. Since then I've moved on to game on any device and every device that will play games. I'm fairly open about genre, I usually prefer single-player or co-op rather then competitive, that may be because i have ADD and never play a game hardcore more then a week before I move on to my next obsession. I try to be as knowledgeable about gaming as I can, and daily read IGN and of coarse the best gaming site ever, Destructiod!